My friend has been making movies for years and currently goes to school for it. He has been working on one now and approached me the other day. He sends the videos to our friends via internet/facebook but was dissapointed when he heard that not too many people go out of there way to view it. He has asked me to come up with ways to get the video to his target age of 18-30 any way. He's been a long time friend and I'd really like to help him out. Just looking to hear of any ideas from anyone on how to spread the word and/or get people to watch. Ive watched them before and they are good it's just a matter of getting people to watch.

I would advise in not going for that 18-30 demographic right away and promote the film through a more popular film community. Namely speaking, Atom Films.

Fact of the matter is, premium short-form content doesn't generally do well as a viral video, for a variety of reasons. Not saying they can't go viral, but the instances of which just don't happen. Most people want to find premium content by any way possible, but there either has to be some degree of familiarity (heard of the film, haven't seen it) or a strong word-of-mouth following for that to happen. Think of like HBO TV shows, which generally pick up steam in viewership when other people keep talking about it. The trick is to get that initial push. Even if you send the video to friends/family and they think well of it, it likely won't pick up enough momentum for it to build a stronger following.

So, I'd concentrate on a film community like Atom. It's likely that the viewers will take the time to watch it and offer some constructive criticism. Also, if it's a really good movie, you're more likely to get better traction amongst those people you want to target initially because you have a wider following of people willing to talk about it.

The Artful Dodger wrote:I would advise in not going for that 18-30 demographic right away and promote the film through a more popular film community. Namely speaking, Atom Films.

Fact of the matter is, premium short-form content doesn't generally do well as a viral video, for a variety of reasons. Not saying they can't go viral, but the instances of which just don't happen. Most people want to find premium content by any way possible, but there either has to be some degree of familiarity (heard of the film, haven't seen it) or a strong word-of-mouth following for that to happen. Think of like HBO TV shows, which generally pick up steam in viewership when other people keep talking about it. The trick is to get that initial push. Even if you send the video to friends/family and they think well of it, it likely won't pick up enough momentum for it to build a stronger following.

So, I'd concentrate on a film community like Atom. It's likely that the viewers will take the time to watch it and offer some constructive criticism. Also, if it's a really good movie, you're more likely to get better traction amongst those people you want to target initially because you have a wider following of people willing to talk about it.

Thanks for the help The released dvds in high school which was mostly them messing around doing pranks and around our town and it sold well but he has moved on to more serious and professional films. We have links though our highschool(siblings, friends, ect) as well as College since we are all there now.

Another thing you could do is to submit the film through a local film festival. Even the big festivals like Sundance and Tribeca take submissions. The only problem is the festivals are cyclical, but maybe you can find lesser known film festivals to apply to which run year-round.